QHow to distinguish anxiety from anxiety disorders? How to deal with anxiety disorder?
A:
Almost everyone has had moments of anxiety:
Looking at the mortgage, car loan, and Huabei bills, I feel anxious;
My children spend a lot of money to make up for classes, but their grades have not improved, and I feel anxious;
As we grow older and face the crisis of unemployment, Feeling anxious...
A recent survey of 2,000 adults found: 72% believe life is becoming increasingly anxious.
Anxiety is constantly dragging down our lives, leaving us unable to sleep at night, tense during the day, chest tightness and shortness of breath.
How to deal with anxiety, and how to distinguish anxiety disorder from anxiety? Hope this article can help you.
Correct understanding of anxiety
Anxiety is a survival instinct of human beings. The book "Growing Up" mentioned: "Anxiety is actually not a bad thing. It shows that you are aggressive and looking for a way out."
Savor this sentence carefully, we will Found it to be correct. Most of us feel anxious because of our inner drive that prompts us to set high expectations.
Especially in this era where is rolled into , everyone wants to go to the next level:
Other people’s children are studying in prestigious schools, and your children cannot be inferior;
Others have already bought cars and houses, so no matter how much you save, you have to make do with it. Spend some money to buy a small two-bedroom apartment;
When others take their family to travel abroad, you must at least take your family to visit the province.
These expectations are the requirements we place on ourselves, motivating us to keep moving forward. For us, this should be a good thing.
But when expectations deviate from reality, and when we find ourselves unable to accomplish our goals, the frustration becomes a weapon against us.
The anxiety that originally promoted our growth can also develop into pathological anxiety.
This kind of anxiety will harm our physical and mental health, causing us to experience chest tightness , palpitation, sweating, muscle tension, etc.
Long-term anxiety will also affect the body's immunity and resistance to diseases, increasing the incidence of chronic diseases.
So moderate anxiety is not a bad thing. The problem is that we must grasp the scale. When anxiety has affected physical and mental health and interfered with normal life, we must pay attention to it.
Correctly distinguish anxiety
How to distinguish between moderate anxiety and pathological anxiety? It can be judged from three aspects.
Is the degree of anxiety consistent with the actual situation?
The degree of anxiety of pathological anxiety is not commensurate with the actual situation most of the time. The degree of fear is amplified in the heart, which is what we often say "scare yourself."
For example, if a family member is sick, even if you are healthy, you will worry about inheriting it, and you will even think about it day and night.
This situation obviously exceeds the scope of moderate anxiety and amplifies the seriousness of the matter.
Can anxiety be adjusted by oneself?
Generally speaking, our anxiety is caused by a certain thing.
When this matter is resolved, this emotion will resolve itself, so this anxiety can be adjusted by ourselves.
The emotions of pathological anxiety are superimposed, and people will feel anxious about many things. It is a kind of "extensive anxiety".
may not have specific content or objects, but it is always shrouded in anxiety.
Whether there are physical symptoms
Anxiety will be accompanied by physical changes, such as excessive sweating, trembling, rapid heartbeat, etc., and it will not last for too long, and will usually relieve itself after the mood calms down.
However, the physical symptoms of pathological anxiety are more severe and may even cause chronic diseases, such as palpitations palpitation, high blood pressure , diabetes , and even cancer .
So if you have unexplained physical discomfort, you should consider the possibility of suffering from anxiety disorder.
Correctly deal with anxiety
Since moderate anxiety is not a bad thing, how should we learn to coexist peacefully with it? There are 3 methods you can try:
Maintain reasonable expectations
When the expected goal is far beyond our ability, insisting on completing it will only increase our psychological pressure.
Therefore, reasonable expectations should be set based on the actual situation.
Sometimes it is not a shame to admit that you can't do it now, or even admit that you will never be able to do it. This is our protection measure for ourselves.
Negative emotions are a crisis and a signal that reminds us to make adjustments.
When the goal is realistic, appropriate anxiety will be transformed into our motivation to move forward, motivating us to reach higher mountains.
Learn to accept anxiety
The more we resist anxiety, the more anxious we will become, and it will even affect normal thinking and daily life. Therefore, it is better to accept anxiety than to reject it.
Only by digging into the source of anxiety and fundamentally solving the problem can we better resolve our emotions.
If things cannot be solved, try to change your thoughts and concepts, look at the problem with another perspective, and let things happen naturally.
For example, if your child’s poor performance makes you feel anxious, what is the reason for the anxiety?
Maybe the child is worse than his peers and feels anxious because of the comparison. The solution is to provide him with additional tutoring. If the problem cannot be solved, we can change our thinking, for example:
My child is also excellent, but other children are better than him, but there will always be someone better, and we cannot ignore the shining points of our children just because others are better.
Learn to speak out your emotions
To regulate your emotions, it is useless to rely solely on encouragement from others. Instead of listening to what others say, it is better to tell others what to say. Expression is the best way to regulate emotions.
So when you feel anxious, it is better to talk to your family and friends about your thoughts.
They may not be able to provide you with substantive opinions, but after talking, you will feel more comfortable and less emotional.
When you think calmly, you may find that the thing that makes you anxious is actually just a small thing.
When faced with similar things in the future, we will be able to better control our emotions.
Moderate anxiety is not a bad thing. On the contrary, it can push us forward.
So learn to make peace with anxiety and let it be a help, not a hindrance.
Of course, if your anxiety has affected your normal life, it is still recommended that you seek help from a professional doctor as soon as possible.
